In the spirit of the new Happy Clappy board I shall simply turn the other cheek to your provocation FLB.

............ content in the knowledge that at least I'm not a big girls blouse who probably sits down for a p1ss.

You are just making yourself look ridiculous now.

Four Lane Blue - I've never read the Flashman books ; I suspect you've mistaken me for Sidders .

In that case...you really need to...you would enjoy them I'm sure. I thought you had read them and taken my advice...shame on you!

They are however notoriously politically incorrect...the reader comes across words such as sambo, wench and darkie...maybe that is the problem?

Rubbish FLB. He lunged in hard I'll give you that but he was going for the ball. The contact with Carragher was by Lucas Neills trailing leg not his leading one so no way can hurting Carragher have been intentional! I thought this had all been debated and cleared up yonks ago?

I thought it was an awful challenge as did many others. As for "debated and cleared up yonks ago"...it was debated and people had differing opinions. I thought it was a bad tackle then and I do know. It was reckless and both his feet were off the ground. As for he was going for the ball...of course he went for the ball...what else was he going to go for...the moon?...and the man as well. A reckless challenge is just that.

As for your claptrap about "agenda's"...grow up will you? It's embarrassing.

The guy is right about the leg-breaking ability however. Neill's tackle on Carrager was a disgraceful excuse of a challenge.

Just to endorse Cheeky Sidders thoughts on the Flashman series of books by George McDonald Fraser. They are top drawer reads and historically very close to the truth. Try to read them in order if you can. A very entertainng insight into how the british ran their campaigns during the expansion of the empire.

I've also been banging on about the Flashman books for years on here as has Blue Phil. Maybe we need a short list of recommended books we can post so people don't have to search for yonks. Other richly recommended books seem to include Curiuus Incident of the Dog in the Night Time, This Thing Called Darkness, Short History of Nearly Everything etc...we just need someone who can be bothered enough to go back and read through all the threads...

Regarding the Flashman series it is worth noting that in the first book Flashman is a much nastier piece of work than in the rest and far more amoral. In the rest of the series his japes and cadly behaviour are generally amusing in tone but the first book is very dark and it is hard to sympathise with him at all at times.

Just checked and we had 28, 691 in when we beat Burnley 2-1 at Ewood.

But not half as good as Shogun by the same author .......all thousand pages of it !!

Tai-Pan was another belting read by Clavell. That was set during the time when Hong Kong was first taken over by the Brits. Lots of opium smuggling, exotic Oriental ladies, inscrutable Chinese baddies etc.

It's another looooooooong read however.

I broadly agree with this. Neill was a terifically committed player for us and often put in excellent performances. He had his poor periods but he represented fantastic value for the million and half we signed him for.

We signed him for 600,000 although this might have risen a bit from appearance clauses etc/

The one and a half million I think is what we eventually sold him for...which is also what we apparently paid for Warnock.

Just to show that not all pundits are ignoring like Match of the Day idiots...Ferdinand - Rovers for the top four

...and certainly not to those cheeky sods of Carlisle!

Oh wait...

That's possibly the only way short term. Good recent form against a 'big' club brings out the fans. It's true we did probably only get about 3,500 more home fans last night than for the other games but the 3500 turned up because of the opposition and the attractiveness of the fixture, not because of any price reduction.

Yes but why are the regular Rovers fans turning up more than in the previous few seasons? The price reduction helped to boost the season ticket numbers which are vital.

As a short-term financial measure it probably isn't wise to have dropped the prices as Rovers did but as a long-term plan it makes sense if they can stop fans giving up season tickets and entice a few back. I'd expect it's much easier to lose a fan than it is to get them back.

Regardless...Rovers couldn't go on hemorrhaging support like we were in the last days of Souness and which continued under Hughes despite a much improved side.

Millwall snap up Blackburn youngster

With Bryan Hodge, the 20 year-old midfielder, going to Millwall this means we now have three players on loan.

Hodge - Millwall

Paul Gallagher - Preston North End

Frank Fielding - Wycombe Wanderers

There is also apparently a youngster called "Macky" Eboigbe on loan at Cercle Brugge as well.

It seems that Gally has not been playing or even on the bench in the last few games. Anyone know if that is due to injury or the manager just not being impressed by him?

As mentioned above...Hughes must be a contender for Manager of the Month.

Mark Hughes has never won the Premiership Manager of the Month award. With 5 wins out of 5 in October...is now the time?

The last Rovers boss to win the award was actually Brian Kidd (!) way back in December 1998.

United however also won five out of five in October...

King Rat by James Clavell is another good one.

I think anyone who saw the passion with which he celebrated MGP's goal the other night can tell that he doesn't see us just as an employer.

The guy had just scored...of course he was full of joy.

What exactly do you think he sees Rovers as then? A mission? Divine? What would you see your employers as?

Benni doesn't endear himself to fans by his saying the first thing that pops into his head. Usually what he says shows he considers Rovers as merely an employer. It is of course the truth but fans would rather ignore that and believe otherwise.

If he keeps playing like he has been however he can say whatever he likes.

Since I'm about done with the current book I'm reading, are there recommendations on some good Brit history/historical fiction books out there that deal with the time between and including the Roman occupation up to and not including the Industrial Revolution? Visiting the country I saw a lot of names and battles mentioned but was embarrassingly at a loss as to their significance. Being a history major, this just grates on my nerves, so I have to read up on it.

There are of course many for such a wide period of time so I will just recommend ´Pillars of the Earth´ by Ken Follet and ´As Meat Loves Salt´ by Maria McCann.

BBC - Toshack fumes at pampered players

It's never good when a manager needs to attack his own players in the press. He'll be calling them rubber dinghy men next...

Also a little matter of the Greek population being around 20 times that of Wales.

Pedantic Note...More like 3 and a bit times the population.

Toshack seems to hate the raised expectations that came from the near miss under Hughes but he would be better off ignoring it and getting on with the job. Sparky's time might have had its moments but many Welsh fans blame his negative formation in the game at home to Russia for their failing to create chances and ultimately blowing their best chance in the past decade tp qualify. So it is hardly as if he is following someone who actually took them to a finals place. Toshack with his mouth, like Souness, is his own worst enemy.

Currently reading the highly praised A History of the World in Six Glasses by Tom Standage which looks at how beverages such as beer, wine, spirits, tea, coffee and water pushed forward civilisation at various times. It is not as interesting as expected but seems to be slowly getting going.

I see you're in Colombia , FLB ....?

Yep not been here long but the strongest thing I have been offered is rum.

Tony, (I seem to be replying to you alot today)

30 or so years ago, a mate of mine like to indulge in a a "smoke" over lunch. Remember hash was of a lesser "quality" then.

Bill enjoyed it carried on and now. Tony, you should see him. To put it mildly, he's a mess. Never married, heart attack material, and has had medical attention for that; a life totally wasted, he was a top bloke.

Now, he can't do the things his mate can.

So before you go down the track that there's no problems, think about what will happen in 10/20/30 years.

As for acid, well the two recent deaths of teenagers (in Sydney) suggests that there is more of a problem than previously thought.

Nothing in life is risk-free Dave but I think tony gale's mic was saying that in moderation some drugs are not as dangerous as other drugs. Alcohol, for example, must exacerbate the mental health problems of a huge number of people but it doesn't stop many people enjoying a pint.

I certainly don't believe that heroin should be legal but with marijuana it is so prevalent that I think we might as well sell and tax it. People who want will get it anyway but surely it is preferable not to buy it from a source that will also offer them drugs like heroin.

There is somewhat of making a pact with the devil in legalising recreational drugs (including alcohol or tobacco) but there also needs to be a pragmatic approach as well as whatever the law is the society still has to function in the everyday. I'd much rather the authorities spent their time concentrating on drugs like heroin. Perhaps not ideal but then what is relating to this issue?